WHAT'S A BLOG FOR?

A friend of mine recently remarked that she didn't understand what a blog is for. I think it is a great way to bitch and moan when you have no one to bitch and moan to. It is also a way to make your views known when you don't have any other venue to make them known or even if you do. It is a way for our family to know what is going on with each other without having to write the same stuff over and over. In short, those are a few reasons for having a blog.

Today I want to bitch and moan. Sometimes bitching and moaning is really good when there are no easy solutions to whatever the problem is. I also love using the word "bitching" because it was such a nono when I was growing up. It still is with a lot of my family but I just don't care anymore or as Maxine said recently in a cartoon, "I just don't give a shit." My mom has a great story about that word too which I might regale you with some slow news day and she still has great fun telling the story which dates back to her childhood.

I went out about 9:30 a.m. today to do my weedeating which I do about once a month. Since I have lived here I have burned up 3 or 4 electric weedeaters--I've lost count. I rummaged through my receipts and found the papers on the most recent one, thank God it was a Craftsman, and in all my sweat and dirt drove down to the neighborhood Sears/Kmart and they gladly exchanged it with not a question asked. I really liked that. That was the best part of the day. I have always been a Craftsman fan. So about the time I'm ready to leave the store it starts pouring rain--so much for finishing the weed eating job. Since I was already wet and not going to be able to finish the job anytime soon I decided to buzz into Wal-Mart and buy some 12 inch concrete paver stones to finish another job that I started a few weeks ago. Since there was no one, of course, in the garden yard to help I loaded all 10 pavers into my car by myself and after a quick drive through Taco Bell I headed home. Now it is still raining, my car is loaded down with concrete pavers and I am filthy dirty. I ate lunch and worked a little bit on a crossword puzzle by which time the rain had stopped. Too wet now to weed eat I decided to unload the pavers and put some in place. I'm making a surface outside my back door for a Rubbermaid utility closet/shed thingy that currently resides on my patio. I proceeded to clear the grass and try to level the ground and actually got six more pavers placed before it began to rain again. That was o.k. because by then I was drenched with sweat and my back was breaking. The space out back also houses my wheel barrow leaned up against the house, my garbage can and my recycle bin. My charcoal grill will have to live there too when I get it all finished. The space is underneath a double window with an awning so there is some protection from the elements. This project started because I am in hopes of eventually getting part of my present patio enclosed into a "Florida room" of sorts and all of this stuff once lived on the patio. The new room will be mostly glass and will add a lot to my small living space.

Well, 4 ibuprofen, a glass of iced tea, a shower, a hard scrub to remove all the grass that was stuck to my legs and a little bitching and I am recovering nicely. Hard work has its merit, I guess, although I often wish I didn't have to do it all by myself--sounds like a good song title. My experience of waiting for help has always been frustrating so I have no one to fuss with when I don't get things done like I'd like and I'm not having to beg and whine for help. I hate begging and whining although I know people who do it very, very well.

The day has been far from wasted. I really did get quite a lot done considering the road blocks to doing it. I am clean, my spirits are lifting and I'm ready for the rest of the day. I'm spending a couple of hours with my great nephews tonight while Jill and Tony go out to eat and then I'll be free to do as I please the rest of the evening. That ain't half bad for an old lady.